Paper Rhythms 纸间时间
Subject 主题Time 时间 ｜ Location 地点
Project Overview 项目概述
Total Runtime:
115 minutes
环流精选：
显隐之地
Saturday, February 10, 2024, 15:00
Screen 2, Genesis Cinema, London, UK
Total Runtime: 115 minutes
展览时间:2024年2月24日至3月28日
地点：厦门市思明区 鼓浪屿·虫洞书店（海天堂构南楼）
As a special extension project of the 2024 Siming Mountains & Sea Art Season – Gulangyu Section, the third installment of the “Southern Memories” Micro Film Exhibition Series presents filmmaker Gui Shuzhong’s solo micro-exhibition “Paper Rhythms | MESOLOGY RHYTHMS” at Wormhole Bookstore (South Building of Haitiantanggou Mansion), Gulangyu, Xiamen. The exhibition is curated by GyreCraft, with Life Monthly specially invited as the exhibition publication sponsor and media observer. A special public guided tour will be held at 3:30 PM on Saturday, March 9. On the same day, Associate Professor Chen Yao from the College of History and Cultural Heritage at Xiamen University, author of “Yukou Paper: A Social History Study of the Handmade Papermaking Industry in Western Fujian”, will join artist Gui Shuzhong in a new book dialogue.
2024思明山海艺术季｜鼓浪屿板块的特别延伸项目 —— “南方记忆”影像微个展（第三期），于厦门鼓浪屿·虫洞书店（海天堂构南楼）呈现导演鬼叔中的微个展「纸间时间｜MESOLOGY RHYTHMS」，该项目由 环流GyreCraft 策展，特邀《生活月刊》作为展览刊物支持与媒体观察。本周六 3月9日 下午3:30，公众开放日特别导览。同时将邀请《玉扣纸：闽西手工造纸业的社会史研究》作者，厦门大学历史与文化遗产学院陈瑶副教授与艺术家鬼叔中展开一场新书对谈。
Jiazi Chen, Muyuan Gao,Wenwen Wei,
CHN, 11min, Hokkien, English/Chinese subtitles, 2022
*World Premiere
导演/艺术家:鬼叔中
项目策划:环流GyreCraft
展览总监:黄晓伟
策展人:龙奕瑭
空间设计:常蓝
助理策展:李诗怡、王心怡
A Treatise on Superfluous Things (Tiangong Kaiwu) is China’s earliest encyclopedia documenting agricultural and craft technologies. Written by Song Yingxing, who served in Tingzhou, Fujian, it includes a chapter on Shaqing (“killing the green”) that details the seasonal timing, materials, and processes of bamboo papermaking in Fujian. Essential resources such as bamboo, alkali, and water are deeply tied to the region’s climate and geography. Ninghua County in Western Fujian is a major production area for Yukou paper. Known as “nine parts bamboo, one part field,” it is mountainous, rich in spring water, and sits at the headwaters of three rivers—the Min, Ting, and Gan. These natural advantages, along with local lime deposits and convenient river routes, made it ideal for traditional papermaking. Yukou paper, known for its bamboo-fiber scent and white ash, was popular in South China and among overseas Chinese communities for cigarettes and ritual offerings. The exhibition centers on two documentary films by artist Gui Shuzhong—Yukou Paper (2009) and Yukou Paper II (2022)—created over more than a decade. Never having left his hometown, Gui continuously documents the people and landscapes of Ninghua. The first film captures the last remaining traditional paper workshop, using ambient sound, daily life, and Hakka folk songs to convey a poetic and grounded atmosphere. Filmmaker Mao Chenyu calls his work “terroir cinema.”The second film, commissioned by curator Zuo Jing for the exhibition Back to the Future, revisits the paper-making site and the Hulanshan family, recording the full production process—from harvesting bamboo to drying and stacking paper—while reflecting changes in rural space, culture, and society. It also documents recent efforts to revive Yukou papermaking, including rebuilding paper huts and restoring historical paper mills. Though full-scale reconstruction isn’t possible in this micro-exhibition, architect Chang Lan was invited to design display units inspired by traditional forms—drawing from features like “paper drying walls” and “paper stacking racks” to create an immersive space. Gui also aims to build a cultural map of Yukou papermaking ruins, photographing over 500 paper hut sites and recording their GPS coordinates. His future plans include documenting ancestral halls, genealogy records, village temples, bridges, warehouses, local festivals, folk tales, songs, and rhymes—using photos, video, and GIS tools to preserve the vanishing cultural landscape of rural Fujian.
《天工开物》是中国历史上最早系统记载农业与手工业技术的百科全书，由曾在福建汀州任职的宋应星所著。其中《杀青》篇详细描述了福建竹纸生产的季节时令、原料与工序，强调竹、碱、水等资源与地方物候之间的紧密关系。闽西宁化是玉扣纸的重要产地之一，地形多山、水源丰富，素有“九竹一田”之称，同时是闽江、汀江、赣江的源头，具备优质造纸条件。纸张通过汀江水路外运至粤闽沿海和南洋群岛，广受欢迎，既用于卷烟，也被华侨用作焚香祭祖的火纸。展览核心由艺术家鬼叔中耗时十余年创作的两部纪录片《玉扣纸》（2009）与《玉扣纸II》（2022）构成。他从未离开故乡，持续记录宁化乡野的风土人情。首部作品捕捉了“最后的土纸寮”，用影像、环境声与方言民谣构建出日常而诗意的造纸图景，被导演毛晨雨称为“风土电影”。续作《玉扣纸II》受策展人左靖委托拍摄，更系统呈现完整的造纸流程，并回应乡土社会与空间的变迁。影片亦记录了当地人重建旧纸坊、复兴玉扣纸传统的努力——如2019年纸寮重建、2022年修复民国纸坊等。此次微个展虽无法重建风土建筑实体，但邀请建筑师常蓝设计展示单元，从纸寮“焙纸墙”和墟市“堆纸栈”等元素中提取灵感，构建展览空间。此外，鬼叔中还开展地方文化地图计划，调查记录宁化曾存在的500多座纸寮遗址，拍摄其“建筑肖像”，标注海拔与经纬度。他也计划继续普查姓氏族谱、村庙庙会、老村遗存、廊桥、谷仓、童谣传说等地方文化，并借助GIS数字媒介进行保存与再现，力图全面记录闽西前现代乡土世界的风貌与技艺基因。
艺术家简介：鬼叔中
“Yukou Paper” is a kind of traditional handmade paper in Ninghua, which is located in northwest of Fujian province. “Yu” literally means jade, because “Yukou Paper” is so pure, white and smooth, just like jade. Currently, there are two interpretations for “Kou”，the first one is the best part of bamboo after being stripped. The second one is a unit for measurement from the past, which is equivalent to “Dao” nowadays. In the old days, the Yukou paper was used to write documents to the emperor, account books, contract document, to print books, genealogies, scriptures, archives and historical books. During the 1970s, the State Publishing Bureau specially transferred this type of paper to print thread-bound large character edition book such as “Poems of Chairman Mao”. During the 1980s and 1990s，the Yukou paper was a fist product for foreign trade in Ninghua County. After 2000, the traditional handmade paper industry declined. In 2009, I found the one remaining handmade paper workshop in a small village in Zhiping She Township, Ninghua County, and with this, I made my documentary debut “The Yukou Paper I”. I thought it was an elegy for her. From perseverance to revival, I have continuously followed the Yukou Paper over these years. This film is also a complement to the video text of the Yukou paper.
玉扣纸为闽西北宁化一带的传统手工造纸。玉扣纸，因成纸温润如“玉”，“扣”，目前有两种解释，一为剥料之后的上好材质（竹纸纸品的一种类型），二为计量单位，等于现行的“刀”。玉扣纸旧时为书写奏本、账簿、契约文书，印制书籍、族谱、经本、档案史籍之上品。二十世纪70年代，国家出版局专门调运此纸，印制《毛主席诗词》等线装大字本。二十世纪80、90年代，玉扣纸是宁化县对外贸易的传统拳头产品。2000年后传统手工纸业式微。2009年，我在宁化县治平畲族乡的小山村找到仅存的一家土纸寮，并以此拍摄了纪录片处女作《玉扣纸I》。原以为这是为她唱的一曲挽歌。之后这些年我持续跟踪了苟延残喘的玉扣纸，从坚守到再兴。本片也是对玉扣纸影像文本的一个补充。
《天工开物》明末清初书林杨素卿刊本中记录的造竹纸
This exhibit features the traditional bamboo papermaking technique as recorded in Tiangong Kaiwu (The Exploitation of the Works of Nature), a pioneering encyclopedia of technology from late imperial China. The version referenced here was published by Shulin Yang Suqing during the transitional period between the Ming and Qing dynasties.
“汀江源头的梅子坑纸寮
The papermaking scenes were filmed at the Meizikeng paper workshop, located at the source of the Ting River.